As Mr. T used to say on The A Team: “I pity the fool” who believes that because the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers have (temporarily, it says here) moved their tough guys to a side burner, it means the end of fighting in hockey is near.

Even if (as we suspect) it is Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, who seems to have gone all New Age since his stint as the NHL’s head of player safety, who initiated the demotion of Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren, which flies in the face of everything coach Randy Carlyle believes …

Hockey just isn’t that susceptible to political correctness.

Those nuclear weapons might be out of sight, but they’re not gone; they’re just being stored for the moment in their silos, waiting for the launch order when cap space opens up or the opponent du jour represents a clear and present danger.

Their fists may not be required in the playoffs, but you have to get there first, with at least some of your skill players unmolested.

Sure, the arguments against fighting are obvious: concussions, self-worth issues, post-career brain disease … the whole laundry list of ills is laid out in John Branch’s brilliant/tragic profile of the late Derek Boogaard in his book Boy On Ice.

But I believe Calgary Flames’ … um, obstreperous president Brian Burke when he says the last time the role of fighting in hockey was raised at a general managers’ meeting, the vote to keep it in the game “at its current level” was 29-1 in favour.

Burke, who’s been mostly silent since pledging to remain in the background as the chief hockey executive of the Calgary Flames, had no problem Thursday arguing the need for fighting in hockey as a purely practical matter.

Whichever end of the P.C. spectrum you may favour, what Burke said in a telephone interview from Toronto is pretty much undeniable.

“What cracks me up is, the disarmament treaty is all in the East,” he said. “I don’t understand it, because you get to the (L.A. Kings-New York Rangers) finals, and what is the one thing that leaped out at you? The Rangers were too small.

“In the West … I mean, we’re going into St. Louis tomorrow. Big, ugly team. You play Anaheim, they’ve always been big and ugly, now they’ve added Kesler, who’s not big and ugly but he’s a grumpy, hostile player. Then you go up to San Jose, they’re historically one of the biggest teams in the league … I said this in a speech the other night: size and toughness, they’re not optional in the West.”

AP Photo/Matt SlocumSure, the arguments against fighting are obvious: concussions, self-worth issues, post-career brain disease … the whole laundry list of ills is laid out in John Branch’s brilliant/tragic profile of the late Derek Boogaard in his book Boy On Ice.

The movement to eliminate fighting, Burke says, is coming from outside the game, not inside.

“The amount of fighting has been significantly reduced, that’s a good thing. We don’t have bench-clearing brawls, we don’t have three-hour games,” he said.

“The guy who sits on the end of the bench and plays two minutes … that’s been gone for several years now. Your toughness has to be able to play now.

“But I believe there’s still a role for fighting and I shudder at the idea of the game without it. Because I think we have a rat problem now because of the instigator penalty, and if you take the big dogs off the ice, now it’s overrun with rats.”

The rules, even stiffer suspensions and a vigilant department of player safety, have been generally ineffective at reducing the incidence of stupid, provocative hits.

Burke thinks adding Chris Pronger to the staff in the league’s player safety department is a great move, “and I bounced him plenty,” Burke said, in his role as the league’s chief sheriff before Colin Campbell.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougalThe movement to eliminate fighting, Brian Burke says, is coming from outside the game, not inside.

But the rules have never gotten rid of rats, and he has little faith in their ability to do so now.

“So the idea that hockey is better without toughness, that’s not even a myth, that’s just wrong. I think our fans want fast, skilled hockey, but they want black-and-blue hockey, too,” he said.

And sometimes, that means fists.

“What are you going to do when you go into Boston Garden? Just tell me, so I can figure this out. Good luck tip-toeing through the tulips there. This is still a man’s game.”

As for Milbury, who only a couple of years ago was decrying the “pansification” of the game, Burke is mystified at his good friend’s sudden reversal of ground.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshThe Flames, very much against the grain, still play Brian McGrattan (L).

“He’s a guy who played on a tough team, has been a major fighting advocate … I don’t understand a 180 (degree turnaround) like that. For him to suddenly find religion is baffling.”

Burke isn’t sold on the suggestion that teams will still dress their fighters when facing an opponent that has visible scrappers in the lineup.

“It messes with your tough guys having a part-time role. They resent it,” he said. “And your skill players? They like looking down the bench and seeing the big boys there. There’s no security blanket better than a heavyweight.”

That’s why the Flames, very much against the grain, still play Brian McGrattan, and have now added Deryk Engelland and Brandon Bollig, all tough guys.

“I’ll take some of the blame for the arms race in the West because I think we started it in Anaheim (in 2007). We won big and ugly, and everyone’s been getting big and ugly ever since,” Burke said.

Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty ImagesBurke thinks adding Chris Pronger to the staff in the league's player safety department is a great move.

The argument that the better teams, since then, have gone away from pure fighters?

“There’s been toughness on every Cup team. This is a myth. Even Detroit in their heyday had McCarty, Probert and on and on. George Parros could play for us (in Anaheim). Shawn Thornton (of Boston) was more than just a fighter.

“L.A. had Jordan Nolan, Matt Greene will fight …”

So Burke doesn’t believe for a second that his Flames are the last bastion of violent gents.

“My teams have always played like that, but it’s not optional,” Burke said. “This is survival skills.

“You want to play with the big boys in the West, you better be big and ugly.”

John Branch, an award-winning journalist with The New York Times, has written a rich, nuanced and essential book on the late enforcer Derek Boogaard that is required reading not only for the pro-fighting crowd, but also by the pugilists themselves.

In Boy On Ice: The Life And Death Of Derek Boogaard, Branch gently unfurls a story that could begin in any small Canadian town, with a shy child seeking acceptance. Only this time, the child is quickly made into a caricature: “The Boogeyman.”

Branch, a 47-year-old who won a Pulitzer Prize two years ago, has experience around the game, having covered the Colorado Avalanche in the glory years that followed the move from Quebec City. He spoke at length with members of Boogaard’s family: his friends, former girlfriends and colleagues. He quotes from the 16 handwritten pages of thoughts Boogaard left behind when he died, the possible opening strokes of an autobiography.

It brings into clearer focus the picture of a lonely soul. The game made him rich, but it also exacted a price. After he died three years ago — at 28, from a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol — Boogaard became the fourth former NHL player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition that is changing the way head trauma is discussed not only in football, but in all sports.

Branch (JB) spoke with National Post earlier this week about fighting in hockey, and if anything or anyone could have saved one of the game’s most feared fighters:

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout/HarperCollinsIn Boy On Ice: The Life And Death Of Derek Boogaard, Branch gently unfurls a story that could begin in any small Canadian town, with a shy child seeking acceptance.

1. Through your research — you drop a Roch Carrier reference early in the book — what have you learned about Canada and its relationship to hockey?
JB: “Hockey is Canada, Canada is hockey. The two are intertwined. I’m not sure we can relate wholly in the United States, because we don’t have any singular thing that everybody connects to the way Canadians seem to connect with hockey.”

2. If you were meeting someone for the first time, how would you describe the way that the junior hockey system treats players?
JB: “I’ve told a couple of people here: It’s not unlike a mix of our NCAA and our minor league baseball. They’re kids who are pulled into this program, whose families believe they are going to be educated, and who have dreams of perhaps playing beyond the juniors. The big difference is that the kids in juniors, in hockey, are younger than our minor-league baseball players or our NCAA athletes, which I think adds a whole different level of stress to the system. Because you’re talking about the care and well-being of kids far from when they’re 16 years old, as opposed to when they’re 19 years old. That’s a big difference.”

3. One argument to keep fighting in the game is that the participants are making informed decisions, but is informed consent possible?
JB: “That is one argument, and I understand that argument. This wasn’t a manifesto against fighting, but I would argue that people who are fighting, especially the kids, aren’t informed participants. People have said the same thing about football players, and still say the same thing about football players, but that’s a hard argument to make when you go talk to the widows or the family members of football players who have died and whose brains have been found to have CTE. They certainly didn’t know all the repercussions.”

4. Does fighting belong in hockey?
JB: “I don’t think it has to. It’s your game, I’ll let you guys decide. [laughs] I don’t think it has to; I think we see proof of that at the Olympics and Stanley Cup playoffs. I think even the most ardent hockey fans agree that’s the best hockey we see, and there’s very little — if any — fighting in those games. It proves we don’t need fighting.”

5. I understand this question is complicated, but what killed Derek Boogaard?
JB: “I’ve never tried to say, ‘Here’s what killed Derek Boogaard.’ The autopsy says it was oxycodone and alcohol mixed together. I think the reader will come away with a sense that it was a combination of things. It was prescription pills. It was concussions. It was: ‘the blame falls on him,’ or ‘the blame falls on his parents,’ or ‘on scouts, coaches.’ I think people will look at themselves a little bit, too, about how we so readily prop these athletes up and consider them invincible, and we don’t really take a hard look at what they’re going through.”

6. What could have saved him?
JB: “That’s a great question. I don’t know. I don’t know how close he was to staying alive the night that he died. Had he stayed alive that night, maybe he would have gone on and played for the Rangers the next year and things would have turned around for him, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I think that’s what agonizes the family most of all, that it was one night, and if they could just get that night back.”

Harper CollinsJohn Branch, a 47-year-old who won a Pulitzer Prize two years ago, has experience around the game, having covered the Colorado Avalanche in the glory years that followed the move from Quebec City.

7. What were you most surprised to learn about him?
JB: “I’d covered a decent amount of hockey in the past, but I was still surprised by hearing enforcers talk about their vulnerabilities, both physically and emotionally. We assume that these guys are gladiators, that they’re fearless, that they absorb pain, that they chose this road. And we don’t see, behind the scenes, the anxiety that’s involved, the emotional toll that it takes, knowing that a fight is coming up, or assuming that they could be tapped any moment to be suddenly outraged and fight. It may cost them, physically, it may cost them their job, depending on the results of that fight. There’s a toll there that I don’t think people understand — and I’m not even sure their teammates understand.”

8. From the stories you learned about other fighters in the game, and their anecdotes and their demons, do you foresee a time when the NHL might face a day of reckoning with CTE as the NFL faces now?
JB: “Absolutely. The NFL dismissed the science for a long time. I believe it was not until the 17th or 18th brain result came back before the NFL said, ‘Let’s sit down at the table and talk.’ And then, beyond that, it took a class-action lawsuit involving 4,500 former NFL players to create a settlement. We’ve had four hockey players whose brains have been examined and found to have CTE. At what point does the NHL reach that tipping point? And we have, I’m told, about 200 former NHL players lined up with class-action lawsuits that have now been combined in Minnesota. And at what point does that number grow to the point that the NHL then says, ‘Let’s sit down at the table and talk about this’?”

9. Through your research, how much do you suspect head trauma contributed to changes in his moods?
JB: “I think part of the mystery of this is that we don’t fully understand CTE. We know what the symptoms are, and Derek exhibited those symptoms the last couple years of his life; the depression, the mood swings, the impulsiveness. Now, was that because of CTE? Was that because of being an addict? Was that because of the relationships he was going through? Anxiety about being in New York? I think it’s a big mix, and I’m not sure we’ll ever really sort it out. Perhaps it’s a cautionary tale for others, that there’s a lot of factors involved in what seemed to be a very simple life.”

10. What did Derek Boogaard’s handwriting look like?JB: “That’s a great question. Quite a few misspellings, slanted. Hard to keep it all on a page without sort of drifting off the page. In the 16 pages he left behind, the first page, you can tell he wrote down thoughts as they occurred to him without any consideration for where on the page he was writing those thoughts, so you have to turn the page 360 degrees to see everything he’s written there. Beyond that, he started writing them more in order, and then he would draw lines around each segment, or each theme he was recalling.”

From his mobile phone, on a walk toward Harvard Yard on the famed university campus in Cambridge, Mass., Steve Almond struck an apologetic tone.

“I’m not trying to s— on your happiness, I’m really not,” he said. “I’m just trying to get people to see football for what it is: Why do we need a beautiful, savage game to feel truly happy, to feel fully alive? That’s the question.”

And it is one Almond, a 47-year-old essayist and author, addresses in Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto, a 178-page rumination on the morality of cheering for professional football. Almond, a long-time fan of the Oakland Raiders, said he has quit the game cold turkey. He also admitted he misses the sport, fighting temptation to return when browsing the Internet to follow other sports, such as baseball.

“Once I’m on ESPN, there it is, there are all the highlights,” Almond said. “And it’s like I’m surfing porn. It’s like, ‘What am I going to do?’ I’ve got to turn away from it.”

Released last month, the book has enjoyed exquisite timing, given the material. Added to its nightmare scenario around repeated head trauma in players, the NFL has been moored to the headlines for a number of serious off-field issues. Star players Ray Rice (domestic assault) and Adrian Peterson (child abuse) have become international talking points.

Almond, who is teaching a course at Harvard through the Nieman Foundation, also argues popular support of the NFL “legitimizes and even fosters within us a tolerance for violence, greed, racism and homophobia.” On Friday, he answered 10 Questions from National Post about the moral question of watching a multi-billion-dollar industry that damages such a large swath of its workforce.

1. So, why do you hate America?SA: [laughs] “Because I’m a pinko. I’m a homosexual pinko. My favourite thing is, if there’s a nice, healthy American baby, if I can get my hands on them and deep-fry them in radical ideology … no. Obviously, I’m kidding. I love America. And I also do have lots of problems with how, in America, we love our pleasures and we really hate to morally interrogate them. We love the bacon, we don’t want to see the slaughterhouse. We love our football, but we don’t want to think about everything that it is.”

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred ChartrandAttawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, wearing a headdress, takes part in a drum ceremony before departing a Ottawa hotel to attend a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall with Gov. Gen. David Johnston in Ottawa, Friday January 11, 2013.

2. What is the “Doritos bliss point?”
SA: [chuckles] “That was my term to try to describe something that’s so brilliantly engineered that you cannot stop consuming it. I think football is one of those things. It connects us intuitively to the pleasures of childhood; the body at play, running, leaping and jumping … And you’ve got, also, this primal aggression. It is men putting themselves at risk in ways that most of us would be too chickens— to do, and there’s a real charge to that.”

3. Have you really given up football?
SA: “I’ve given up on watching it, I’ve given up on consuming it. Part of what I was saying about America, is we have great values, we recognize that things are morally flawed, but we don’t enact our values in the world. And if I’m saying that I’m troubled by football on all these different levels — and it’s not just player health, it’s how it’s perverted the educational mission and the nihilistic greed of the NFL and how our cultural priorities are distracted and distorted by football — then I can’t be a paying customer. Let’s bottom-line it here: If I’m watching, the NFL and the NCAA and the advertisers and corporations that profit from the game don’t give a s— whether I’m conflicted or feeling guilty about it … And the product is going to remain the same and not be reformed. And the country will remain the same until individual fans hold themselves accountable.”

4. On the issue of concussions, how do you counter the point that the athletes on the field are also adults making an informed decision to take that risk?
SA: “I’m not concerned about that decision. My book is about the fan’s decision to consume the game. You’re absolutely right, these guys are adults. They get paid lots of money, they’re cultural heroes. Even knowing everything they know about the risks — ‘Hey kid, it’s a 30% chance you’re going to wind up with brain damage at a significantly younger age’ — why is it worth it to these guys? Because they get tons of money and they’re cultural heroes. And who makes them that? We do. That’s us.”

5. For everything that has happened this month alone — Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and a soulless news conference from commissioner Roger Goodell — the NFL is still a ratings monster. What does this say about us?
SA: “It says that we really love the game, and we’re willing to do whatever we can, psychologically, to preserve the right to watch it. And for me, Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson and Roger Goodell, when they’re gone, the NFL is still going to be the NFL … You can go ahead and conveniently scapegoat those guys, and that’s part of the reason fans still get to watch. Because rather than saying, ‘There are moral problems with this whole sport, and the industry it’s become, and we’re a part of that,’ they get to say ‘It’s Roger Goodell’s fault, it’s Ray Rice’s fault, it’s Adrian Peterson’s fault. It’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong.’”

There were early indications that what Atleo saw as a critical achievement, others saw as insufficientOTTAWA — When the hard-won meeting between First Nations leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper was finally over on Friday, the exhausted and contested chiefs said they could hardly believe what had been accomplished.
Despite rancorous boycotts by some chiefs and a door-pounding protest on the front steps of the prime minister's working office Friday, National Chief Shawn Atleo declared that Harper has finally agreed to top-level talks to modernize and implement the ancient treaties that were always supposed to bring peace and prosperity to First Nations.
There were early indications that what Atleo saw as a critical achievement, others saw as insufficient. Chief Theresa Spence, whose month-old fast has galvanized a cross-country grassroots protest movement, said the results of the meeting fell short of what was required for her to abandon her liquid diet.
Atleo defended what was delivered in the meeting with the prime minister.
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"The implications here are massive," the grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations said in an interview after the four-hour meeting wrapped up.
Treaties, he says, determine aboriginal rights to the land, its resources and its uses. And while large parts of the country have looked to those treaties for decades or even centuries for salvation, the treaties have never been truly implemented, the chiefs say.
"What First Nations are seeking and what we will press for at the highest political level is recognition and implementation of our rights," Atleo said. "That can only come from a political mandate. Well, the prime minister has just signalled engaging at that level."
First Nations have long made clear that Harper can't expect to progress meaningfully with his ambitious natural resource agenda unless he deals with treaty rights first, Atleo added.
But the agreement at Friday's meeting is only a baby step down that road. The four hours of talks — between Harper, his officials and three cabinet ministers on the one hand and a couple of dozen First Nations representatives on the other — only sets the stage for another round of discussions within the next month.
And in order for the commitment to treaty talks to work, the Ontario and Manitoba First Nations who boycotted Friday's meetings will have to come back into the Assembly of First Nations fold.
Ontario and Manitoba are two of the country's key regions governed by treaties, and chiefs from those province must assess and apply any of the broad strokes of Friday's agreement apply in their areas, said Grand Chief Edward John from the First Nation Summit in British Columbia.
"They need to be involved in the development of the modalities of that. The treaty First Nations need to step up and design this," said John, who attended the meeting.
First Nations in northern Ontario and Manitoba are among the most impoverished in Canada, and their people have long complained that Canada is not living up to its side of the treaty.
But the chiefs from those regions refused to attend the Harper meeting because it did not include the Governor General — a key demand since the treaties were signed by a representative of the Crown.
"Our leaders, there were some who in the end said they were surprised that the prime minister was making the kinds of commitments we heard," Atleo said.
But as the weightiness of his commitment set in, the leaders were also overwhelmed by the task in front of them.
"So when we sat and huddled as a delegation, we reflected on the deep challenges that we had."
But secondary demands — including a repeal of contentious sections of the government's omnibus budget bills — were dismissed or put off for another day.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the talks with Atleo and about 20 other native leaders were "frank" and "constructive," while acknowledging much work remains.
Perhaps most significantly, Duncan said the prime minister and the powerful Privy Council Office — the bureaucracy that supports the PMO — will now take an active role on "those sticky items which are identified which could use some direction from the centre."
In other words, one year after another highly symbolic meeting that was supposed to reset the relationship between Ottawa and First Nations, a sense of urgency may have emerged.
But the chiefs have yet to declare a victory because they've been down this road before, said John.
"Today I have to wait and see what transpires because we were already made promises that were not kept," he said.
Some might credit the restive, cross-country Idle No More native protest movement, as well as the month-long hunger protest by Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence, for any perceived momentum.
But a central tenet of Idle No More dissent is the government's overhaul of environmental oversight and protections of fisheries and waterways included in the massive budget bills rammed through Parliament last spring and last fall.
On that point, Duncan said the government saw no reason to make any changes and had fulfilled its constitutional duty to consult with First Nations beforehand.
"We're quite comfortable that we have met our constitutional obligations with those bills and we believe there's every reason to proceed," Duncan said.
He said prime minister makes sure "that there is regular knowledge of any concerns that may come from the First Nation leadership," regarding legislation.
Atleo and the chiefs in the meeting with Harper and his ministers pushed hard on that point, but made no progress, John said.
"That's the crux of the problem."
Plus, Harper did not give any ground on First Nations' requests to set up a public inquiry on violence against aboriginal women — a key demand for many grassroots protesters that has garnered support across the country.
It was not immediately clear whether the results of the meeting would be enough for the two sides to find enough common ground to re-establish Atleo's leadership, repair the Crown-First Nations relationship and quell restless protesters across the country.
"There's no question, it has been the most challenging moment that I personally can recall in our work," Atleo admitted. "We've always known there is no easy way forward, and we said that to the prime minister today."
Atleo's ability to recover politically from the schisms and drama of the past two days "depends on the outcome of the meeting," said Harvey Yesno, grand chief for the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which groups reserves across northern Ontario.
Yesno was among those who boycotted the meeting with Harper. But he said the Ontario chiefs are not ready to ask for Atleo's head simply because he met Harper against their will.
"There will be another time for that kind of discussion," said Yesno. "We have to move things along."
If Atleo is able to deliver a concrete process to revisit historic treaties and modernize them — a process led by a powerful person in government, with strict timelines to deliver results — then his reputation would be restored, Yesno said.
Contrary to Harper's original plan, he stayed for the duration of the afternoon talks, along with several key cabinet ministers: Duncan, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Treasury Board Secretary Tony Clement.
Missing from the government list was Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, whom First Nations were hoping to meet to discuss a different way of sharing the bounty from natural resource extraction.
Thousands of protesters filled the streets around Parliament Hill, chanting, dancing and demanding that Harper act to improve the conditions on reserves — cries that echoed through the meeting room as Harper and his team met the chiefs.
Asked whether those protests would subside now that Harper has committed to a treaty process, Atleo said he thinks his people will need to see evidence of change first — a belief that has added urgency to the process with Ottawa.
"I think the voices of our people, they will not be silenced."

6. You suggest fans are “addicts” in relation to football. Why?
SA: “Because they can’t stop watching, even after they know that it’s bad for them in some ways. To give you an example, there are probably many wonderful American fathers who work hard all week, and on Sundays, they want to unwind and relax. And some of them have daughters, like I do. And they probably must know, somewhere deep down, that giving their daughters access to them only through watching a game that portrays men as inherently aggressive and women as sexual ornaments who jiggle on the sidelines, is probably isn’t the healthiest way to relate to their daughters. But we do it … People derive incredible pleasure from it, but people derive incredible pleasure from drugs and alcohol and from tobacco. And at a certain point, they look at those things and say, ‘On balance, those are probably not good for me, even though they are so incredibly pleasurable.’”

7. You ask whether it is “immoral to watch a sport that causes brain damage” — hockey can cause brain damage too. Is it immoral to watch hockey?
SA: “In hockey, where collisions happen and fights happen, those are incidental to the game. They are not inherently a part of the game. They do happen, at high speeds, with guys getting checked into the boards and so forth. But the reason that the NFL finally admitted — after years of denial — that they expect 30% of their players are going to end up with brain damage at significantly younger ages, is specifically because it is a collision sport. There are small car accidents that are happening inside the players’ helmets on every play, every full contact practice and in every game … So if I apply that standard, watching hockey is morally questionable, as well. But it’s different from football because the hitting in hockey — even though it’s extremely violent — is incidental to the game.”

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred ChartrandAssembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo addresses a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013.

8. Can you see the end of football?
SA: I don’t think so. Do you want my utopia? In my utopia, people play football. Everybody plays football, and they decide what rules they want to play by, whether it’s tackle or touch, and they play football. They don’t watch proxies in military gear working at the behest of a $10-billion soulless industry. They actually play it themselves. I don’t want football to end. I want people to reconnect to playing it rather than watching it.”

9. So after all of that, I’m still safe to cheer for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, right?
SA: [laughs] “Yes. I hereby, by the power vested in me by all three readers of my book, give you permission to watch Notre Dame. I’m sure it will be a thrilling spectacle, and I’m sure that all of those players are going to get degrees from Notre Dame that reflect a deep consideration and engagement with the world of ideas. I think the fact they are not paid anything and put their brains at risk is awesome. And I think your contribution to that totally corrupt system is awesome. For you.”

10. [Chuckle, followed by pained silence]
SA: “That’s going to sound mean and condescending in print. Please make it clear: I have nothing but love for other football fans, as long as they’re engaging with these questions.”

Marijuana is casting an ever-thickening haze across NFL locker rooms, and it’s not simply because more players are using it.

As attitudes toward the drug soften, and science slowly teases out marijuana’s possible benefits for concussions and other injuries, the NFL is reaching a critical point in navigating its tenuous relationship with what is recognized as the analgesic of choice for many of its players.

“It’s not, let’s go smoke a joint,” retired NFL defensive lineman Marvin Washington said. “It’s, what if you could take something that helps you heal faster from a concussion, that prevents your equilibrium from being off for two weeks and your eyesight for being off for four weeks?”

One challenge the NFL faces is how to bring marijuana into the game as a pain reliever without condoning its use as a recreational drug. And facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of hundreds of former players complaining about the effects of prescription painkillers they say were pushed on them by team trainers and doctors, the NFL is looking for other ways to help players deal with the pain from a violent game.

A Gallup poll last year found 58 per cent of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized. That’s already happened in Colorado and Washington — the states that are home of last season’s Super Bowl teams.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has said it does not need to catch out-of-competition marijuana users. And at least one high-profile coach, Pete Carroll of the champion Seahawks, publicly said he’d like to see the NFL study whether marijuana can help players.

LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty ImagesOne challenge the NFL faces is how to bring marijuana into the game as a pain reliever without condoning its use as a recreational drug.

There are no hard numbers on how many NFL players are using marijuana, but anecdotal evidence, including the arrest or league discipline of no fewer than a dozen players for pot over the past 18 months, suggests use is becoming more common.

Washington Redskins defensive back Ryan Clark didn’t want to pinpoint the number of current NFL players who smoke pot but said, “I know a lot of guys who don’t regularly smoke marijuana who would use it during the season.”

Washington wouldn’t put a specific number on it but said he, too, knew his share of players who weren’t shy about lighting up when he was in the league, including one guy “who just hated the pain pills they were giving out at the time.” Another longtime defensive lineman, Marcellus Wiley, estimates half the players in the average NFL locker room were using it by the time he shut down his career in 2006.

“They are leaning on it to cope with the pain,” said Wiley, who played defensive line in the league for 10 seasons. “They are leaning on it to cope with the anxiety of the game.”

Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family that became infamous in Truman Capote’s book ‘In Cold Blood’LANSING, Kan. — The bodies of the two men executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family that became infamous in Truman Capote’s true-crime book <em>In Cold Blood</em> were exhumed Tuesday in an effort to solve slayings of a Florida family killed while they were on the lam weeks later.
The bodies of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, both former convicts, were exhumed from the Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing, Kan., at the request of the Sarasota County, Fla, sheriff’s office, said the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
They were executed in 1965 for the murders of Herb and Bonnie Clutter and their children, Jimmie, three, and Debbie, two, in Holcomb, Kan., on Nov. 15, 1959.
[caption id="attachment_244822" align="alignright" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-244822" alt="Files" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/truman-capote.jpg?w=300&quot; width="300" height="336" /> Files[/caption]
A Sarasota County Sheriff’s detective has been trying to determine whether Smith and Hickock were also responsible for the deaths of Cliff and Christine Walker and their two young children on Dec. 19, 1959, in their home in rural Osprey, about four hours northwest of Miami near Sarasota.
The two men fled to Florida after the Clutter murders and are thought to have spent at least a month there.
Kimberly McGath, a Sarasota County detective, said she requested the exhumation to obtain DNA that could be compared to that from semen found on Christine Walker’s underwear.
She is also hoping to obtain a match on a palm print found in the family’s home.
All the Walkers were shot. Christine Walker also was beaten and raped, and Debbie was drowned in a bathtub.
The unsolved murders 64 years ago remain one of the most horrific in Sarasota County history and shocked the community.
Detectives who investigated the Walker murders have considered Smith and Hickock possible suspects since 1960, according to records released by the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office.
Smith and Hickock were arrested in Las Vegas. A polygraph test cleared them of the Walker murders, but a polygraph expert said in 1987 such tests performed in the early 1960s were worthless.
Lansing police barricaded the entrance to the cemetery, limiting the access to the media and the public.
Exhuming a body is not a problem in the mild weather in Kansas, said Dr. Erik Mitchell, the coroner for Leavenworth County. But the exhumation still does not ensure the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office will get the evidence they need for a DNA comparison.
<em>- With files from news services</em>

The NFL is fighting lawsuits on two fronts — concussions and painkillers — both of which, some argue, could be positively influenced if marijuana were better tolerated by the league.

The science, however, is slow-moving and expensive and might not ever be conclusive, says behavioural psychologist Ryan Vandrey, who studies marijuana use at John Hopkins. Marijuana may work better for some people, while narcotics and other painkillers might be better for others.

“Different medicines work differently from person to person,” Vandrey said. “There’s pretty good science that shows marijuana does have pain relieving properties. Whether it’s a better pain reliever than the other things available has never been evaluated.”

Washington, who is part of the concussion lawsuit, is working with a bio-pharmaceutical and phyto-medical company called KannaLife Sciences that recently received licensing from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a drug to treat concussions using derivatives from medical marijuana.

AP Photo/Nick WassWashington Redskins defensive back Ryan Clark didn't want to pinpoint the number of current NFL players who smoke pot but said, "I know a lot of guys who don't regularly smoke marijuana who would use it during the season."

Co-founder Thoma Kikis, who has been working on cannibas-based solutions to concussions for a few years, said he approached the NFL about signing on to the research.

“They didn’t want to meet, didn’t want to take a position to create any kind of controversy,” Kikis said. “I understand that. But ultimately, they’re going to have to make a decision and look into different research.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has treaded gingerly around the subject. Before last season’s Super Bowl he said the league would “follow the medicine” and not rule out allowing players to use marijuana for medical purposes. An NFL spokesman reiterated that this month, saying if medical advisers inform the league it should consider modifying the policy, it would explore possible changes.

A spokesman for the players union declined comment on marijuana, beyond saying the union is always looking for ways to improve the drug-testing policy. But earlier this year, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said the marijuana policy is secondary when set against the failure to bring Human Growth Hormone testing into the game. Some believe relaxing the marijuana rules could be linked to a deal that would bring in HGH testing.

“I’ve heard that in conversations,” said Wiley, a plaintiff in the painkiller lawsuit. “And I think it’s despicable that you’d pit them against each other.”

AP Photo/Stephan SavoiaMarcellus Wiley (R) estimates half the players in the average NFL locker room were using it by the time he shut down his career in 2006.

The NFL drug policy has come under even more scrutiny this summer, after the NFL handed down a season-long suspension of Browns receiver Josh Gordon for multiple violations of the NFL substance-abuse policy. That suspension, especially when juxtaposed against the two-game ban Ray Rice received for domestic violence, has led some to say the league’s priorities are out of whack.

In June, Harvard Medical School professor emeritus Lester Grinspoon, one of the forefathers of marijuana research, published an open letter to Goodell, urging him to drop urine testing for weed altogether and, more importantly, fund a crash research project for a marijuana-based drug that can alleviate the consequences of concussions.

“As much as I love to watch professional football, I’m beginning to feel like a Roman in the days when they would send Christians to the lions,” Grinspoon said. “I don’t want to be part of an audience that sees kids ruin their future with this game, and then the league doesn’t give them any recourse to try to protect themselves.”

The league does fund sports-health research at the NIH to the tune of a $30 million donation it made in 2012. But the science moves slowly no matter where it’s conducted and, as Vandrey says, “the NFL is in business for playing football, not doing scientific research.”

OLIVER BERG/AFP/Getty Images

Meanwhile, marijuana becomes more and more acceptable across America every day. But even with the Super Bowl being dubbed “The Stoner Bowl” and the issue hanging heavily over the NFL’s marquee event, the league has shown no signs of quick movement.

The league’s threshold for a positive test remains 10 times lower than that of WADA, which changed its limit last year in a nod to the reality that the drug is not a performance enhancer.

The NFL’s conundrum is figuring a graceful way to keep tabs on those who use marijuana recklessly — or recreationally — while giving others a legitimate form of pain relief.

“I’d like to see us advance the subject to where we’re all mature and we get it,” Wiley said, “and we let players make the decision for themselves.”

Athletes coping with lingering concussion symptoms can return to play sooner if they are treated with a combination of therapies on their spine and inner ear, according to research from the University of Calgary.

A team led by researcher Kathryn Schneider found those suffering from headaches, neck pain and dizziness were more likely to receive medical clearance within two months after receiving the therapy than those who followed standard rehabilitation procedures.

“It certainly is an individualized injury,” Schneider said on Wednesday. “But if you do have those symptoms that persist … this might be a treatment that might be of benefit.”

The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in May.

Thirty-one patients were divided into two groups, with one group receiving the standard therapy, and the other receiving the combination. The latter group had a 73% success rate in returning to play within eight weeks, compared to only 7% in the first group.

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Concussion can leave any number of signature symptoms beyond those in the study, from memory loss to heightened sensitivity to light and many others. Schneider said the study focused on athletes with “primary complaints of neck pain, dizziness and headaches.”

Patients reported for 30-minute weekly therapy sessions for eight weeks, or until they had been medically cleared to return to play. Those in the experimental group underwent the combined therapy, with the dual focus on their spine and inner ear.

Schneider said the work on the spine focused on the muscles and the movement: “And in the event there were muscles that needed treatment, or some joints that were felt to be not moving as well as they could be, then manual therapy was implemented.”

Work on the inner ear — “vestibular” therapy — used techniques to focus on balance. An exercise might have required the patient to focus on a target while moving their head side to side, for example.

Participants ranged from 12 to 30 years of age and were concussed while competing in a variety of sports. More than 60% of the athletes had already suffered at least one previous concussion.

Schneider said the study did not take into account the number of concussions an athlete already had on their athletic résumé, and it has not tracked how the athletes fared after they had returned to play. She said more studies would follow.

The issue of concussion has risen to prominence as science reveals the dangers linked to repeated head trauma. No two concussions are the same, and many doctors have adopted the mantra of “when it doubt, sit it out.”

Schneider said the combined treatment did not begin until after the athletes had finished suffering the “acute” symptoms of their concussion. The first part of recovery was still a familiar one: rest.

“That’s still the consensus of the initial treatment,” she said. “But then, following that point, when the symptoms persist, this may be a treatment that may be of benefit.”

PHILADELPHIA — Seven former professional football players have filed a court challenge to a tentative class action settlement of concussion claims that would cost the NFL at least $765 million.

They argued that some players won’t be fairly compensated under the plan, especially those whose awards would be reduced or negated because of prior strokes or other factors. Their appeal echoes their previous complaints about the plan, which would cover nearly 20,000 retired players — including former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon — for 65 years.

Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody has granted preliminary approval of the settlement pending a fairness hearing in November, when other critics can challenge it and perhaps decide to opt out and reserve the right to sue individually. Her approval came after the NFL agreed to remove the $765 million cap to ensure the fund doesn’t run out.

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The group appealing the judge’s decision includes 2008 Pro Bowl player Sean Morey, now Princeton University’s sprint football coach. The group’s lawyers appealed the decision by Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody on Monday.

“Conflicts within the class leave many class members without adequate representation,” lawyer Steven F. Molo wrote in the appeal. “This class, as certified, is doomed.”

He noted that families of players diagnosed posthumously with the debilitating brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the future would not receive the $4 million given to families that received the diagnosis before preliminary approval of the plan this month. Instead, the players would be treated and compensated for the various symptoms they exhibit during their lives.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers who negotiated the settlement with NFL lawyers for more than a year called the appeal premature since the agreement has not been finalized.

“This petition is entirely without merit, and only serves to confuse and obscure the tremendous benefits retired players will receive if this settlement is approved by the Court,” lawyer Christopher Seeger said in a statement Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA — The NFL agreed Wednesday to remove a US$675 million cap on damages from thousands of concussion-related claims after a federal judge questioned whether there would be enough money to cover as many as 20,000 retired players.

A revised settlement agreement filed in federal court in Philadelphia also eliminates a provision that barred anyone who gets concussion damages from the NFL from suing the NCAA or other amateur football leagues.

In January, U.S. District Judge Anita Brody had denied preliminary approval of the deal because she worried the money could run out sooner than expected. The settlement, negotiated over several months, is designed to last at least 65 years and cover retired players who develop Lou Gehrig’s disease, dementia or other neurological problems believed to be caused by concussions suffered during their pro careers.

More than 4,500 former players have filed suit, some accusing the league of fraud for its handling of concussions. They include former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, who suffers from dementia.

“This agreement will give retired players and their families immediate help if they suffer from a qualifying neurocognitive illness, and provide peace of mind to those who fear they may develop a condition in the future,” plaintiffs’ lawyers Christopher Seeger and Sol Weiss said in a statement.

The original settlement included $675 million for compensatory claims for players with neurological symptoms, $75 million for baseline testing and $10 million for medical research and education.

The revised settlement eliminates the cap on overall damage claims but retains the payout formula for individual retirees. A young retiree with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, would receive $5 million, a 50-year-old with Alzheimer’s disease would get $1.6 million, and an 80-year-old with early dementia would get $25,000.

Even with the cap removed, both sides said they believe the NFL will spend no more than about $675 million to ex-players.

Brody will decide later whether to accept the new settlement terms.

Critics of the deal have said the league, with annual revenues topping $9 billion, was getting off lightly. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the settlement avoids the risk of a protracted legal battle.

The proposal does not include an admission from the NFL that it hid information from players about head injuries.

“Today’s agreement reaffirms the NFL’s commitment to provide help to those retired players and their families who are in need, and to do so without the delay, expense and emotional cost associated with protracted litigation,” NFL Senior Vice-President Anastasia Danias said in a statement.

Sometimes, he would stay in his room and lie on his back in the dark because the pain in his head was so excruciating. At his darkest moments a few years ago, when it was just about too much to handle, the former Chicago Bears quarterback thought about killing himself.

“I am glad I don’t have any weapons in my house or else I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be here,” McMahon said. “It got to be that bad.”

McMahon opened up about his struggles with early onset dementia and depression in a gathering with a small group of reporters on Tuesday, issues he believes were brought on by the beating he absorbed playing football. He is scheduled to be honoured Wednesday in Chicago by the Sports Legacy Institute, a Boston University-based group that has been studying the effects of brain trauma in athletes and others.

While his suicidal thoughts are a thing of the past thanks to treatment that drains spinal fluid from his brain, the fight with dementia continues. The “punky QB” who once helped the Bears shuffle their way to a championship is also digging in for another battle, one that could have major consequences for the NFL.

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McMahon is one of several players identified by name in a federal lawsuit filed in California last month accusing teams of illegally dispensing powerful narcotics and other drugs to keep players on the field without regard for their long-term health.

He also is part of a class-action lawsuit in which the NFL agreed to a US$765-million settlement without acknowledging it hid the risks of concussions from former players. A federal judge has yet to approve the settlement, expressing concern the amount is too small.

While McMahon wouldn’t discuss the most recent suit, he did talk about the troubles he has faced in recent years, issues he believes took root when he was getting battered on the field.

McMahon said he had three to five diagnosed concussions and who knows how many more that went undiagnosed. That’s in addition injuries to the kidney, broken ribs, an addiction to painkillers and a broken neck that he said team doctors and trainers never told him about.

He found out about five years ago, when he went for X-rays and an MRI. Doctors told him he had broken his neck at some point, and McMahon believes it happened with the Minnesota Vikings during the 1993 season, when he got sandwiched by two Giants defenders in a playoff game at New York.

Nearly broken in two, McMahon couldn’t move his legs at first. He eventually headed to the sideline after about 10 minutes. He didn’t stay there long.

Stacy Thacker/The Associated PressMcMahon said he had three to five diagnosed concussions and who knows how many more that went undiagnosed. That's in addition injuries to the kidney, broken ribs, an addiction to painkillers and a broken neck that he said team doctors and trainers never told him about.(AP Photo/

He said he went back in — “like an idiot” — and a defender trying to block a pass grazed his head. McMahon’s legs went numb again and he left the game.

McMahon said the doctor asked him afterward how he felt but did not examine him. He said there’s “no doubt about it,” the team knew his neck was broken.

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from the Vikings.

The NFL continues to make billions and billions of dollars every year. And some of these guys are homeless. They don’t know who they are, and they were the ones who built this brand to where it’s at

The dementia diagnosis came five years ago, after McMahon was having trouble remembering the most basic stuff.

He would meet someone and forget their name. For that matter, he had trouble remembering the names of people he knew for years.

That wasn’t all.

He’d go out and forget the way home, so he would call his girlfriend Laurie Navon and tell her: “I don’t know where I’m at. I don’t know how I got on this road. I told her, ‘Aliens abducted me and put me over here.’ ”

REUTERS/Egyptian Presidency/Handout U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi meet at the presidential palace in Cairo November 21, 2012.

Navon mentioned the mood swings, seeing a man who was “mad at himself, mad at the world.”

He was suffering, with excruciating pain in his head. It was so bad he would hole up in the dark in his room for weeks, only leaving if he had an appearance to make.

“I can see how some of these guys have ended their lives, because of the pain,” McMahon said.

Lately, he’s been getting relief from two doctors in New York. Through a machine they invented, they’re able to relieve the pain in his head through a nonsurgical procedure that realigns his neck every few months.

Spinal fluid cooling in the brain brought on by a rotation in his vertebrae was causing the headaches. By realigning the neck, the fluid drains. In turn, the pain goes away for a few months, along with the short-term memory loss and moodiness.

The dementia, however, is an ongoing fight, one of several for a former quarterback going nose to nose with the league.

“The NFL continues to make billions and billions of dollars every year,” McMahon said. “And some of these guys are homeless. They don’t know who they are, and they were the ones who built this brand to where it’s at.”

Andrew McKim still gets the headaches, the migraines, and he still sees the stars when he sneezes. His wife, Leanne, has become adept at reading the markers of his pain, even as it presents itself as a certain look at the dinner table. She will ask him how he is feeling, and he will sometimes answer: “It’s just like a knife in my ear right now.”

He was an avid reader before the injury, she said, but not since, not with the all trouble he has concentrating. He used to be more eager to greet the morning, too, but not after, when she would rise and he would remain in bed, in agony, if the weather outside had shifted.

“It’s the same, I guess, as someone with arthritis, when they can tell that the weather is not very good, or that bad weather is coming,” she said. “That’s the way he is with his head.”

Andrew McKim knows he is not the same man he was before Oct. 31, 2000, when he was a happily married father of two young children, a slick forward from the Maritimes with a six-figure salary to play professional hockey in Switzerland. That was the life he enjoyed, the life he wanted.

And it came to an end at the point of an elbow.

He had been badly concussed before, at least twice in a career that included three cameo appearances in the National Hockey League. But none of the earlier ones were like the one that fall, in the game against HC Davos, on a hit delivered just a half-second after he played the puck.

Kevin Miller was a winger with Davos. A cousin of Ryan Miller, a long-time goaltender and member of the U.S. Olympic team, Miller had also spent time in the NHL. He was known not as a dirty player, but as a journeyman who could squeeze out 20 goals in a season.

Part of his life changed, too, in that game. Miller checked McKim from behind, his elbow driving into the back of McKim’s head. McKim flipped forward and slammed face-first onto the ice. He was helped to the dressing room and taken to a hospital, where he would spend at least a week with a severe concussion.

MADELEINE SCHODER/ZUERICH HALLENSTADIONPHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- On a history-making trip, President Barack Obama on Monday paid the first visit by an American leader to Myanmar and Cambodia, two Asian countries with troubled histories, one on the mend and the other still a cause of concern.
Obama's fast-paced, pre-Thanksgiving trip vividly illustrated the different paths the regional neighbors are taking to overcome legacies of violence, poverty and repression.
Cheered by massive flag-waving crowds, Obama offered long-isolated Myanmar a "hand of friendship" as it rapidly embraces democratic reforms. Hours later, he arrived in Cambodia to little fanfare, then pointedly criticized the country's strongman leader on the issue of human rights during a tense meeting.
Obama was an early champion of Myanmar's sudden transformation to civilian rule following a half-century of military dictatorship. He's rewarded the country, also known as Burma, with eased economic penalties, increased U.S. investment and now a presidential visit, in part to show other nations the benefits of pursuing similar reforms.
"You're taking a journey that has the potential to inspire so many people," Obama said during a speech at Myanmar's University of Yangon.
The Cambodians are among those Obama is hoping will be motivated. White House officials said he held up Myanmar, a once-pariah state, as a benchmark during his private meeting Monday evening with Prime Minister Hun Sen, the autocratic Cambodian leader who has held power for nearly 30 years. Hun Sen's rivals have sometimes ended up in jail or in exile.
Unlike the arrangement after Obama's meetings with Myanmar's President Thein Sein and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the U.S. and Cambodian leaders did not speak to the press following their one-on-one talks. They did step before cameras briefly before their meeting to greet each other with a brisk handshake and little warmth.
In private, U.S. officials said, Obama pressed Hun Sen to release political prisoners, stop land seizures and hold free and fair elections. Aides acknowledged the meeting was tense, with the Cambodian leader defending his practices, even as he professed to seek a deeper relationship with the U.S.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the president told Hun Sen that without reforms, Cambodia's human rights woes would continue to be "an impediment" to that effort.
White House officials emphasized that Obama would not have visited Cambodia had it not been hosting two regional summit meetings the U.S. attends, a rare admonishment of a country on its own soil.
The Cambodian people appeared to answer Obama's cold shoulder in kind. Just a few small clusters of curious Cambodians gathered on the streets to watch his motorcade speed though the streets of Phnom Penh.
Winding down his trip, Obama talked on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Briefly addressing reporters before the private meeting began, Obama called the relationship between the U.S. and Japan a "cornerstone of prosperity and security in the region." The two leaders discussed jobs, trade and the economy.
Obama also carved out time for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in what was likely the president's last meeting with current Chinese leadership. At the top of the meeting, Obama called the relationship between the US and China "cooperative and constructive" and said it was important that the two countries have "clear rules of the road internationally for trade and investment."
"You and I share the view that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world," Wen added, even as he acknowledged differences on issues.
Obama's talks with Noda and with Wen were likely to be his last bilateral meetings with both men.
Noda dissolved his country's parliament last week, setting the stage for new elections his party is unlikely to win. And China is undergoing its first leadership transition in a decade, with Wen and President Hu Jintao stepping down to clear the way for new leaders in the country's Communist Party.
Obama has added the Asia summit to his annual list of high-priority international meetings as he seeks to expand U.S. influence in the region.
A welcome sign did greet Obama upon his arrival - but it heralded Wen, not the American president.
Human rights groups fear that because Obama delivered his condemnation of Hun Sen in private, government censors will keep his words from reaching the Cambodian people. And they worry the prime minister will then use Obama's visit to justify his grip on power and weaken the will of opposition groups.
"If Hun Sen's narrative about this visit is allowed to gel, it will create a perception that the United States and other international actors stand with Hun Sen, and not with the Cambodian people," said John Sifton, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "It will be a tremendous blow to Cambodians who challenge his rule."
Obama's visit to Myanmar was also viewed critically by some international organizations, which saw the trip as a premature reward for a country that still holds political prisoners and has been unable to contain ethic violence.
Aware of that criticism, Obama tempered some of his praise for Myanmar during his six-hour visit. He underscored that the reforms that have taken hold over the past year are "just the first steps on what will be a long journey."
Perhaps the sharpest calls for caution came from Suu Kyi, Myanmar's longtime democracy champion. After meeting with Obama at the home where she spent years under house arrest, she warned that the most difficult part of the transition will be "when we think that success is in sight."
"Then we have to be very careful that we're not lured by the mirage of success," Suu Kyi said, speaking with Obama by her side.
Obama will return to Washington before dawn Wednesday, in time for the ceremonial pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.

McKim still has a gaping blank space where the memory of the subsequent three months should be stored. He does not remember staying in the hospital — he stayed at one on the outskirts of Zurich, because his team wanted to calm the media storm — and he does not remember moving home, to St. John’s. He does know he never played another game.

The lingering post-concussion symptoms had served as a proxy reminder until last week, when the incident resurfaced in North America. A U.S. federal court judge in Michigan upheld a Swiss court ruling against Miller, leaving the now-retired winger on the hook for US$1.6-million in damages to the insurance company that covered McKim.

“I tell you, if he did call or reach out or apologize and be sincere about it, I’d feel pretty bad about this ruling,” said Andrew McKim, now 43. “But I don’t.”

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The ruling comes three months before one of the most highly anticipated court cases in hockey history, with Steve Moore’s $38-million lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi set for an Ontario court on Sept. 8. Bertuzzi punched Moore in the head from behind during a game on March 8, 2004, and Moore never played again.

It also comes as the dangers of repeated head trauma gather more attention. More than one hockey player has been found with chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a brain-wasting condition with no known cure — at the time of their deaths.

And this case underscores how closely those two issues can be linked, how a single moment on the ice can follow players long after they retire, exacting a lasting toll not only from the victim, but also from the assailant.

National PostMcKim still has a gaping blank space where the memory of the subsequent three months should be stored.

Miller was ejected from the game and ultimately suspended for eight games, which at the time was reported to be the longest suspension in league history. He spent two more years in Switzerland before returning to the United States, playing another four games with the Detroit Red Wings and ending his career in the now-defunct United Hockey League.

And like McKim, the legacy of the hit has stalked him. According to the court documents filed in Michigan, Miller was charged and found guilty of causing bodily harm in a Swiss court, in 2005. He was sentenced to three months in prison — but was given a suspended sentence, with two years’ probation.

Miller appealed, and won. McKim then appealed that acquittal, as is his right in Switzerland, moving the case up to the Swiss federal court. In 2007, two years after the first verdict, the federal court ruled that Miller was “100% liable for McKim’s injuries” and found him guilty of bodily harm.

According to the filings in Michigan, Miller had admitted he hit McKim, conceding that he had injured his opponent “at least slightly,” but claimed that check was not the root of the damage. The suggestion was McKim was injured after his head struck the ice.

Calgary Flames president Brian Burke, who was then the president and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, filed a brief in support of Miller. In a statement transmitted to the Swiss court, Burke wrote: “This was a player finishing his check. Had Mr. Miller wanted to ‘attack’ Mr. McKim, he could have done far worse.”

Miller said the latest ruling is the third civil ruling against him, all from Switzerland. The finding in Michigan allows the Swiss insurance company, Allianz Suisse Versicherungs-Gesellschaft, to recoup its costs in covering McKim. (It covered his medical expenses, as well as lost wages, among other things.)

“It’s been 14 years,” Miller said, sounding tired, earlier this week. “It’s cost me probably $500,000 in lawyer’s fees already. I try to keep it away from my wife and kids … I don’t want them to worry about it, and I don’t want them to have this hanging over their head.”

Bernd Lauter/Bongarts/Getty ImagesMcKim had been badly concussed before, at least twice in a career that included three cameo appearances in the National Hockey League.

He said he was not sure whether he would appeal the latest ruling. He said his insurance company has told him it will not cover this one. Miller is a financial advisor in Lansing, Mich., and at the peak of his earning power in the NHL, his annual salary might have hit US$500,000.

“He wasn’t Wayne Gretzky,” said his lawyer, Doug Donnell. “I don’t know what he was making in the NHL, but a $1.6-million judgment is a big deal for most of us mortals.”

Miller said he did reach out to McKim after the injury. He said he got McKim’s number from a teammate a day or two later, when he realized how badly injured he had been. He said he told McKim he never meant to injure him, and that he apologized.

“He didn’t take it very well,” Miller said.

National PostMcKim is co-owner of a hockey school in St. John’s — Xtreme Hockey, which has worked with some of the biggest names to leave Newfoundland — and also plays in some occasional, non-contact shinny.

Later, he asked what McKim was doing. McKim is co-owner of a hockey school in St. John’s — Xtreme Hockey, which has worked with some of the biggest names to leave Newfoundland — and also plays in some occasional, non-contact shinny.

“It’s hard to believe that somebody can function normal and play hockey and coach, and do all the things, if [the concussion symptoms are] happening,” Miller said. “I find that interesting.”

“I don’t know anything about Andrew and him, and the way they’re feeling, but I can, 100% attest to the fact that Andrew’s resulting injuries from that hit are very real,” Leanne McKim said. “I had to live with it.”

Beyond the headaches, migraines and dizziness, she said, Andrew McKim has short-term memory loss and has battled depression. Those symptoms are classic hallmarks of post-concussion syndrome.

And put together, they changed the man she met in 1991. Leanne cared for Andrew when he had to live in the dark, blinds drawn, because of an acute sensitivity to light after the hit in Switzerland. And when the family moved home to Newfoundland, she helped him as much as she could, as well as raising the couple’s two children, who were both under the age of three at the time.

After a decade, the weight grew too heavy. Andrew was different, and it was increasingly clear that different was the new normal. A big part of the man she married was gone.

“One of the main reasons why we separated was because he’s not the person I married,” she said. “And it’s definitely due to the hit. It changed his life. It took his career away, a career that he loved.”

They have been separated for almost two years. They are still very good friends. Leanne has kept his surname, and they have been raising their children together. But it is not the life they had before the hit in Switzerland.

National PostAndrew McKim has short-term memory loss and has battled depression. Those symptoms are classic hallmarks of post-concussion syndrome.

After the initial fog cleared, Andrew considered returning to university, but ruled it out because he realized he could not focus long enough to finish a book. He was tired, too, and is still haunted by fatigue.

“I went back to my mother’s house the other day,” he said this week. “It was three or four o’clock, and I went to bed and slept for two or three hours.”

At 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, McKim was an undersized star in junior hockey. He had 130 points in his final year with the Hull Olympiques, in 1990, when Alain Vigneault was head coach. (Vigneault moved on with his career, coaching the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup final this month.)

He was only 30 years old when he was injured, still near the prime of his career. He felt he had another five or 10 years left on skates. From there, he might have slipped into a coaching or management job. He would have stayed in the game, if he could have.

REUTERS/Baz Ratner An Israeli police officer (R) stands beside a man who was arrested, near the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv November 20, 2012. The man stabbed a security guard at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and was apprehended, a police spokesman said.

“I guess you can’t look back and say, ‘what if,’ but that’s probably where I would have ended up,” McKim said. “I would have maintained doing something in the pro game, something that was basically taken away from me.”

And Miller, he said, took it away.

“Now, he’s feeling the effects of what he did to me,” he said. “So do I feel bad now? No. I think I would have felt different if he’d reached out and apologized.”

Occasionally, someone will send Leanne a story about the struggles facing another retired athlete. Four professional hockey players were found to have been suffering with CTE when they died, and only three were fighters. The fourth, Rick Martin, was 59 when he died. He was not a fighter. He was a goal-scorer and a playmaker, just like McKim.

There have been times when Leanne has had to send a text message reminding McKim to pick up their children, knowing he would forget. She has watched him battle through the headaches without medication because she said he hesitates to even take Advil. She has watched him battle depression. And when she gets around to the stories, the familiar symptoms jump off the page.

MIAMI — Dan Marino says he inadvertently became a plaintiff in a concussion lawsuit against the NFL and is withdrawing immediately.

The Hall of Fame quarterback said he doesn’t suffer any effects from head injuries.

“Within the last year I authorized a claim to be filed on my behalf, just in case I needed future medical coverage to protect me and my family in the event I later suffered from the effects of head trauma,” Marino said in a statement Tuesday. “I did not realize I would be automatically listed as a plaintiff. … I have made the decision it is not necessary for me to be part of any claims or this lawsuit, and therefore I am withdrawing as a plaintiff.”

Marino’s withdrawal costs the litigants a high-profile plaintiff. He was by far the best-known of 15 former players who filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia last week.

They joined more than 4,800 others who allege the NFL misled players about the long-term dangers of concussions. The league has denied those allegations.

“I am sympathetic to other players who are seeking relief who may have suffered head injuries,” Marino, 52, said in his statement.

The NFL and the original group of players agreed on a $765 million settlement last August, but that deal was rejected by a federal judge in January.

Marino spent his entire 17-year career with the Miami Dolphins and retired as the most prolific passer in NFL history.

He worked as an analyst for CBS from 2002 to 2013 but wasn’t retained for this season. He has had recent discussions with the Dolphins about a role in their front office, and a lawsuit might have complicated such a hiring.

Two BP PLC employees will reportedly face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive 2010 spillNEW ORLEANS — Oil giant BP has agreed to pay the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history, totaling billions of dollars, for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a person familiar with the deal said Thursday.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the deal, also said two BP PLC employees face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive spill.
The person said BP will plead guilty to obstruction for lying to Congress about how much oil was pouring out of the ruptured well. The person declined to say exactly how much the fine in the billions of dollars would be.
[related_links /]
The Deepwater Horizon rig, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, sank after the April 20, 2010, explosion. The well on the sea floor spewed an estimated 206 million gallons of crude oil, soiling sensitive tidal estuaries and beaches, killing wildlife and shutting vast areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing.
The spill exposed lax government oversight and led to a temporary ban on deepwater drilling while officials and the oil industry studied the risks, worked to make it safer and developed better disaster plans.
[caption id="attachment_233371" align="alignnone" width="620"]<img class="size-full wp-image-233371" title="Then-BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward (C), BP Managing Director Robert Dudley (R) and BP America President Lamar McKay (L) leave the White House following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. in this June 16, 2010 file photo." alt="" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bp-2.jpg&quot; height="429" width="620" /> Win McNamee/Getty Images[/caption]
BP's environmentally-friendly image was tarnished, and independent gas station owners who fly the BP flag claimed they lost business from customers who were upset over the spill. BP chief executive Tony Hayward stepped down after the company's repeated gaffes, including his statement at the height of the crisis: "I'd like my life back."
The cost of BP's spill far surpassed the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Exxon ultimately settled with the U.S. government for $1 billion, which would be about $1.8 billion today.
The government and plaintiffs' attorneys also sued Transocean Ltd., the rig's owner, and cement contractor Halliburton, but a string of pretrial rulings by a federal judge undermined BP's legal strategy to pin blame on them.
At the time of the explosion, the Deepwater Horizon was drilling into BP's Macondo well. The rig sank two days later.
[caption id="attachment_233372" align="alignnone" width="620"]<img class="size-full wp-image-233372" title="Smoke rises from a controlled burn May 19, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP oil spill." alt="" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bp-3.jpg&quot; height="465" width="620" /> John Kepsimelis/U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images[/caption]
After several attempts failed, engineers finally were successful in capping the well on July 15, 2010, halting the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico after more than 85 days.
The disaster also created a new lexicon in American vocabulary - such as top kill and junk shot - as crews used innovative solutions to attempt to plug the spewing well with pieces of rubber. As people all over the world watched a live spill camera on the Internet and television, the Obama administration dealt with a political headache, in part because the government grossly underestimated how much crude was spilling into the Gulf.
<blockquote class="pullquote">We do not use words like 'gross negligence' and 'willful misconduct' lightly</blockquote>
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans was assigned to oversee tens of thousands of court claims spawned by the explosion. A trial date was set, but Barbier postponed it so BP could hammer out a deal with attorneys for Gulf Coast shrimpers, commercial fishermen, charter captains, property owners, environmental groups, restaurants, hotels and others who claim they suffered economic losses after the spill. Relatives of workers killed in the blast also sued.
Barbier gave his preliminary approval to that proposed settlement in May and scheduled a January trial for the remaining claims, including those by the federal government and Gulf states.
In a pretrial court filing, the Justice Department said it would argue that BP's actions and decisions leading up to the deadly blowout amounted to gross negligence.
[caption id="attachment_233374" align="alignnone" width="620"]<img class="size-full wp-image-233374" title="Skimming vessels, 70 miles off the coast of Alabama. Gulf of Mexico, skimming up oil from the surface of the water in this June 14, 2010 file photo." alt="" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bp-4.jpg&quot; height="413" width="620" /> Handout/ BP Plc[/caption]
"We do not use words like 'gross negligence' and 'willful misconduct' lightly," a Justice Department attorney wrote. "But the fact remains that people died, many suffered injuries to their livelihood, and the Gulf's complex ecosystem was harmed as a result of BP and Transocean's bad acts or omissions."
One of Barbier's rulings possibly insulates Transocean and Halliburton from billions of dollars in liability. Barbier said Transocean and Halliburton weren't obligated to pay for many pollution claims because of contracts they signed with BP.
The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation of the spill. The only person facing charges so far is former BP engineer Kurt Mix, who was arrested in Texas in April on obstruction of justice charges. Mix is accused of deleting text messages about the company's response to the spill, not what happened before the explosion.
The companies also sued each other, although some of those cases were settled last year. BP has sued Transocean for at least $40 billion in damages.
And there are still other claims against BP from financial institutions, casinos and racetracks, insurance companies, local governments and losses caused by a government-imposed moratorium on drilling after the spill.
None of those are covered by BP's proposed settlement with the private lawyers.
[caption id="attachment_233375" align="alignnone" width="620"]<img class="size-full wp-image-233375" title="Oil-covered pelicans found off the Louisiana coast and affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, wait in a holding pen for cleaning at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana June 11, 2010. " alt="" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bp-5.jpg&quot; height="492" width="620" /> REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana/Greenpeace/Handout[/caption]
A series of government investigations have spread blame for the disaster.
In January 2011, a presidential commission found that the spill was caused by time-saving, cost-cutting decisions by BP, Halliburton and Transocean that created unacceptable risk. The panel didn't point blame at any one individual, concluding the mistakes were caused by systemic problems.
In September 2011, however, a team of Coast Guard officials and federal regulators issued a report that concluded BP bears ultimate responsibility for the spill. The report found BP violated federal regulations, ignored crucial warnings and made bad decisions during the cementing of the well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has repeatedly said it accepts some responsibility for the spill and will pay what it owes, while urging other companies to pay their share.
BP waived a $75 million cap on its liability for certain economic damage claims under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, though it denied any gross negligence.
[caption id="attachment_233377" align="alignnone" width="620"]<img class="size-full wp-image-233377" title="Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill stains a beach on East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana June 8, 2010." alt="" src="http://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bp-6.jpg&quot; height="413" width="620" /> REUTERS/Lee Celano[/caption]

The findings suggest concussions alter the microstructure of the white matter — the “wiring” that transmits signals from one brain region to another — at least in the short term, but possibly in the long term as well.

In three related papers published Tuesday in the Journal of Neurosurgery, an international research team shows the kinds of microscopic brain damage that can result from a concussion.

Related

“It means we’re finding organic, objective evidence of this trauma,” said Dr. Paul Echlin, a sports medicine physician in Burlington, Ont., who led the studies.

“We know that trauma occurs. We know that in soft tissue you’re going to have these findings of inflammation and neuroplasticity, which means changes in the structure, but we’d never seen it before.”

Concussion is a traumatic brain injury that results from a blow to the head. Symptoms include headache, confusion, memory loss, dizziness and nausea or vomiting.

Depending on the severity of the concussion, symptoms can last for days, weeks or months. Concentration and the ability to remember may be impaired; the person can be irritable, depressed and experience marked personality changes; sensitivity to light and noise, along with disturbed sleep, are also common.

With repeated concussions, the brain can be permanently damaged.

“Clinically, we know that these symptoms don’t resolve,” said Echlin, a passionate proponent of rule changes in professional and amateur sports aimed at preventing concussions.

“And these are the patients that I treat on a daily basis,” he said. “It affects their school, their occupation, their forward progress in society. It will lessen their ability to achieve the things they want academically or work-wise and often relationship-wise.

“So it has a great effect upon the individual.”

To conduct these studies, researchers used advanced techniques to analyze MRI brain scans of 45 male and female athletes who played on two undisclosed Canadian university hockey teams during the 2011-2012 season.

The players were asked to undergo MRIs at the beginning and end of the season. Those who had a concussion also had MRIs within 72 hours of the brain injury, at two weeks and again at two months.

Eleven players — five males and six females — had concussions during the season, and one of them had a second concussion in a subsequent game, all observed and diagnosed by independent doctors unconnected to the teams.

The first study looked at the movement of fluid in and around cells within 72 hours and determined there were changes to the white matter, which appeared to be caused by an inflammatory response to the injury.

“What we think we see is some kind of immune response that is activated right after the concussion,” co-author Ofer Pasternak, a researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said Monday from Boston.

“We cannot say yet whether it is long-term damage,” although such changes might contribute to long-term neurological deficits or to degenerative diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the future, he said.

The second study measured small changes in the blood vessels, which were detected right after a concussion, peaked at two weeks, but had resolved by the two-month MRI. These vascular changes were statistically significant only in male players, although the researchers don’t know why.

Although these blood vessel effects went away in the varsity players, Pasternak said it’s not clear if that would be the case in people who suffer multiple concussions over a period of years.

“And we don’t know whether the changes in vascular properties would be affecting other types of changes in the brain that would persist for a longer time,” he said.

In the final study, researchers compared the brain scans of players who had been concussed with non-concussed league-mates and found differences in their white-matter microstructure, which were still evident by the end-of-season MRI.

“We don’t know what the long-term effects are. I think we’re still at a stage where it’s too early to tell,” said Martha Shenton, director of the psychiatry neuroimaging laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and co-principal author with Echlin on the studies.

“I think one has to be careful here and not say, ‘Hey, we’re showing permanent damage,”‘ Shenton said from Boston. “We aren’t saying that. We’re saying there’s evidence of changes here and we don’t know whether they’re going to be long term or whether they’re going to resolve and what they’re associated with.

“But it’s at least a little kind of warning … that if someone has a concussion, don’t send them back [to play] right away, give them the proper rest period they need before they get a secondary impact, which can actually be fatal.”

Ofer stressed the findings are important not only for hockey, football and soccer players, but also for anyone who suffers a concussion — from the soldier in combat to those who strike their heads in an automobile accident or as the result of a fall.

“About 15 to 30 per cent of people will have long-term symptoms,” he said. “And our study gives us the first steps towards understanding what goes wrong in those people.”

Related

The awards would vary based on an ex-player’s age and diagnosis. A younger retiree with Lou Gehrig’s disease would get US$5-million, those with serious dementia cases would get US$3-million and an 80-year-old with early dementia would get US$25,000. Retirees without symptoms would get baseline screening, and follow-up care if needed.

Some critics have argued that the NFL, with more than US$9-billion in annual revenues, was getting away lightly. But the players’ lawyers said they will face huge challenges just to get the case to trial. They would have to prove the injuries were linked to the players’ NFL service and should not be handled through league arbitration.

Sol Weiss, a lead lawyer for the ex-players, remained confident the class-action settlement will ultimately be approved.

“I am very confident that the [actuarial] people we used are right, and that there will be enough money to cover these claims for 65 years,” Weiss said.

More than 4,500 former players have filed suit, some accusing the league of fraud for its handling of concussions. They include former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Jim McMahon, who suffers from dementia.

Layn R. Phillips, a former federal judge from California hired by Brody to lead settlement negotiations, had called the deal fair.

The settlement would include US$675-million for compensatory claims, for players with neurological symptoms; US$75-million for baseline testing for asymptomatic men; and US$10-million for medical research and education. The NFL also would pay an additional US$112-million to the players’ lawyers for their fees and expenses, for a total payout of nearly US$900-million.

With the preliminary rejection in hand, the two sides could try to assure the judge the money will last or raise the fund amount to ease her concerns. They also could try to start over.

Brody is expected to hold a hearing sometime this year at which critics could challenge the settlement terms. She would then decide whether or not to grant final approval. Retirees could opt out of the settlement and sue the league individually, but there is no guarantee they would ever get to trial or see any money.

The judge last month named Perry Golkin, a longtime executive at the investment firm Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., as a special master to advise her on the case.

The players’ lawyers filed a few hundred pages of documents and exhibits last week, but Brody asked for more analysis to bolster their claim that the money won’t run out.

“Unfortunately, no such analyses were provided to me in support of the plaintiffs’ motion. In the absence of additional supporting evidence, I have concerns about the fairness, reasonableness, and adequacy of the settlement,” Brody wrote.

PHILADELPHIA — Lawyers representing former NFL players in the proposed $US765-million settlement of thousands of concussion-related claims detailed Monday how the money would be divided among the men and their families.

The awards could reach $5 million for athletes with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease; $4 million for a suicide involving brain trauma; and $3 million for dementia cases.

Under the payout formula, those maximum awards would go to players under 45, who would likely need more lifetime care. For a man in his early 60s, the awards top out at $3 million for ALS and $950,000 for Alzheimer’s disease. An 80-year-old with early dementia would get $25,000.

Individual awards would also reflect how long the player spent in the NFL, unrelated medical issues and other factors. For instance, the award could be reduced significantly if someone had injuries from an unrelated stroke or car accident. Men without any neurological problems would get baseline testing, and could seek compensation if test reveal any problems.

“This is an extraordinary settlement for retired NFL players and their families — from those who suffer with severe neurocognitive illnesses today, to those who are currently healthy but fear they may develop symptoms decades into the future,” lead players’ lawyers Christopher Seeger and Sol Weiss said in a statement.

Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody of Philadelphia must still approve of the plan, and is expected to hold a fairness hearing next spring or summer. Individual players can also opt out or object to the settlement, which followed five months of court-ordered talks between the players and the NFL.

Players taking part will be encouraged to share their medical records with researchers studying brain injuries in football players, according to the extensive papers filed Monday.

The plaintiffs include class representative Kevin Turner, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots and is now battling ALS, and Shawn Wooden, who played for the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears and does not have serious symptoms, but wants baseline testing.

“The compensation provided in this settlement will lift a heavy [financial] burden off of the men who are suffering,” Turner said. He hopes it will ensure that future players “do not suffer the way that many in my generation have.”

The total settlement would include $675 million for compensatory claims, for players with neurological symptoms; $75 million for baseline testing for asymptomatic men; and $10 million for medical research and education.

The NFL would also pay an additional $112 million to the players’ lawyers for their fees and expenses, for a total payout of nearly $900 million. The league’s annual revenues top $9 billion.

Mediator Layn R. Phillips of California, a former U.S. judge, called the settlement fair, noting the risks to both sides if the case went to court. Players might have the case thrown out of court and their claims sent to league arbitration, while the NFL might have been forced to release internal files that reveal what it knew, when, about the consequences of playing after a concussion.

“It was evident throughout the mediation process that plaintiffs’ counsel were prepared to litigate and try these cases, and face the risk of losing with no chance to recover for their labour or their expenses, if they were not able to achieve a fair and reasonable settlement result for the proposed class,” Phillips said.

The money is expected to last for at least 65 years. About 19,000 retired players would be eligible to seek awards or medical testing, but current players are not part of the deal.

Dickerson didn’t tell the Lions’ medical staff immediately about his concussion, which he recalled getting on a kickoff during the second half. He later dropped a pass and was called for holding in overtime of Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the New York Giants.

“I just got knocked out,” Dickerson told reporters after the game. “I just got a little concussion. I should have reported it. I thought I could get through it.”

Four days later, the 25-year-old journeyman was put on injured reserve.

Dickerson, who has caught 11 passes in 23 games over three years with three NFL teams, may have simply been trying to make the most of his opportunity to play even if he was putting his health at risk.

For players and the league, there’s a lot at stake.

Millions can be made by men who can thrive and survive in what Lions receiver Nate Burleson called “a gladiator sport,” by shaking off hits that are so hard brains collide with skulls. And, hundreds of millions of dollars — perhaps billions in the future — can be lost by the league.

Jeff Gross/Getty ImagesWeddle, meanwhile, wasn't as willing to talk about whether he has hidden a concussion to stay in a game.

The NFL agreed a week before this season started to pay $765 million to settle lawsuits from thousands of former players who developed dementia or other concussion-related health problems they claimed were caused by the same on-field violence that boosted the game’s popularity and profit.

Former Lions and Washington Redskins athletic trainer Al Bellamy, who worked for NFL teams from 1988-2012, said there’s only so much medical professionals can do to protect players from themselves.

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do if a player isn’t being forthright about his health,” said Bellamy, now the director of athletic training at Temple. “Athletic trainers and team doctors are trying to see what they can from the sideline and the NFL puts an athletic trainer in the press box to point out possible concerns.

“Ultimately, though, it’s up to the players to be forthcoming about their health when there’s any doubt.”

Sometimes, that simply doesn’t happen.

Dr. Stanley A. Herring, a Seattle Seahawks team physician for 20-plus years and chairman of the NFL head, heck and spine committee subcommittee, said a key component of diagnosing concussions is a good relationship with players.

“The clinical diagnosis is aided if you know what the player is like — how he thought, acted and talked — before he was injured,” Herring said in a telephone interview Thursday night. “You can’t understand if a player is acting differently if you don’t know him very well.”

I don’t think there’s anything you can do if a player isn’t being forthright about his health

Leonhard said he continued playing “an important” game for the New York Jets three or four years ago with a concussion. Looking back, he said it was a “terrible decision” because of what he has learned about head injuries.

“But sometimes it’s hard — you’re a competitor,” he said.

In a series of interviews in 2011 about head injuries with The Associated Press, 23 of 44 NFL players said they would try to conceal a possible concussion rather than pull themselves out of a game.

Our top 5 things to do in Toronto this week, including Circus, The Exhibition at the Science Centre & the Ashkenaz Festival at Harbourfront<strong>1. CULTURE:</strong> North America’s largest celebration of global Jewish music and culture, the <strong>Ashkenaz Festival</strong> is back with a week-long program of music, film, theatre, dance, literature, craft and visual arts that aims to delight all ages. The arts lineup includes more than 80 acts, including renowned world music stars Yemen Blues; Montreal’s Socalled, who likes to mix hip-hop beats with traditional arrangements; Winnipeg’s klezmer revival band Finjan; post-Soviet pop experimenters Opa!, from Russia; a family singalong with Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison (better known as two-thirds of Sharon, Lois and Bram); Theatre Panik’s live performance of <em>The Corpse Bride</em>, jazz pianist Pete Sokolow in conversation about his six-decade career in New York’s art scene; cartoonist and author Paul Buhle, talking about his career in comics and working with Harvey Pekar; plus dozens of dance acts, lit talks, films, workshops and, of course, the Festival Parade, produced by street theatre stalwarts Shadowland Theatre, featuring a rejigged story of the Golem of Prague.
• August 28 to September 3, various venues and times. Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. Free admission to festival (some ticketed events); <a href="http://www.ashkenazfestival.com&quot; target="_blank">visit ashkenazfestival.com for schedule and tickets</a>.
<strong>2. SCIENCE:</strong> How do the laws of physics govern what jugglers can’t, and more importantly, what they can do? How does psychology relate to physiology as an acrobat balances on the high wire? How do human cannonballs, er, survive? Answering questions like this is a three-ring performance for <strong>Circus! The Exhibition</strong>, an exploration of the “exciting and tantalizingly dangerous world of the circus.” Children and adults alike will have the chance to: test their balancing prowess on a three-metre-high wire; explore the technology of pneumatics and the role played by physics and math when it comes to shooting things into the air and having them hit targets (complete with mini-cannons); discover the science behind scent and nostalgia while unpacking cotton candy, popcorn and peanuts from a food cart. Plus, learn to be a clown, and for the younger children, dress up in costume area and pretend to join the circus!
• Through September 3, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Rd. (at Eglinton). Adults: $22; Children: $13-$16; <a href="http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca&quot; target="_blank">visit ontariosciencecentre.ca for more details</a>.
<strong>3. SPORT:</strong> With more urban skateboarding parks opening all the time, and films such as Lords of Dogtown and Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park percolating in the mainstream, it’s not surprising that Canada’s premiere theme park is hosting a skateboarding competition. What is a little surprising the purse: $50,000! <strong>The West 49 Take the Cake Skateboard Contest</strong> will feature marquee skaters such as Ben Gore, Chris Cole, Nyjah Huston, and B.C.’s Paul Machnau. They’ll be pitted against amateur and professional qualifiers across three zones: chain-link area; straight ledges, rail and stairs; and two rails and stairs. The moula? It’ll be doled out to the skaters who do the single best tricks on the stair feature: First place: $20,000; second: $10,000 and third: $6,000, with money right down to lowly 14th place. N.B.: Wonderland asks those not in competition to leave their boards at home, as they’re not allowed in the park.
• August 30 (noon-8 p.m.) and 31 (2 p.m.-8 p.m.). Kingswood Theatre, Canada’s Wonderland, 9661 Jane St., Vaughan. $34.99-$45.99 (two-day pass); <a href="http://www.west49takethecake.com&quot; target="_blank">for details and tickets, visit west49takethecake.com</a>.
<strong>4. MUSIC:</strong> Soon to be the busiest guy around these parts, Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival, will take a brief timeout next week to highlight one of his other great passions with <strong>Ah Sey One: A Reggae Insider’s Musical Journey</strong>. He’ll be joined by two-time Juno Award-winners The Sattalites, Canada’s oldest reggae outfit, as well as Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning. Bailey’s talk will focus on various styles of reggae and discuss the style’s place in Toronto’s musical landscape while The Sattalites walk audience members through the basics, from ska to dancehall, and touching on how dub technology is altering the genre forever. Harlem Restaurant will offer up mini-rotis, beef patties and jerk chicken quesadillas to keep hunger at bay while you gorge on Jamaican musical culture.
• August 29, 8 p.m. Harlem Restaurant, 67 Richmond St. E. $79; <a href="http://www.sceneopolis.com&quot; target="_blank">visit sceneopolis.com for details</a>.
<strong>5. OUTDOORS:</strong> It’s that time of year again, when the angle of the sun, the cool air of the evenings and the frowns on kids’ faces from ages four to 24 herald the coming end of summer. But perhaps the most beautiful and delicate symbol of the change of season is the arrival of the butterflies, from the majestic monarch to the comely eastern comma. Displays and activities will be set up throughout the park during <strong>The Tommy Thompson Park Butterfly Festival</strong> to help you get to know these fragile creatures better (there are 55 species present in the protected area), from caterpillar to cocoon, to their final winged stage. Hikes and walks will also be taking place, along with some bird demos (the area is also a protected sanctuary for feathered creatures, too), but take note: most require registration, even though they’re free. Unfilled spots, though, will be given out on a first come, first served basis.
• August 25, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 1 Leslie St. (at the foot of Leslie, south of Lake Shore Blvd.) Free; <a href="http://www.butterflyfest.ca&quot; target="_blank">visit butterflyfest.ca for details</a>.

Wilson said it’s just the nature of the game to stay on the field even with a head injury.

“I think any football player who’s played an extensive amount of time playing football has played at one time or another with a concussion,” he said.

Weddle, meanwhile, wasn’t as willing to talk about whether he has hidden a concussion to stay in a game.

I think any football player who’s played an extensive amount of time playing football has played at one time or another with a concussion

“When I’m done playing I’ll reveal all that stuff,” he said.

Generally speaking?

“Of course it happens,” Weddle said.

To explain why it does, Weddle mentioned what happened to Alex Smith in San Francisco. Smith was the 49ers’ starting quarterback last season until he had a concussion. When Smith was cleared to play, he didn’t get his job back because Colin Kaepernick kept it.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two NFL Hall of Famers are among nine former Kansas City Chiefs players who have joined a lawsuit that contends the team hid the risks of permanent brain injuries from repeated concussions.

Cornerback Albert Lewis and defensive end Art Still were added Saturday to the lawsuit initially filed this month on behalf of five former Chiefs players. Also joining the suit are Dino Hackett, Todd McNair, Fred Jones, Tim Barnett, Walker Lee Ashley, Emile Harry and Chris Smith.

All 14 plaintiffs were on the team between 1987 and 1993, a period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL.

The amended lawsuit also adds claims that artificial-surface fields during part of that time contributed to concussions.

Ryan Freel was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease, when he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last December, the former Major League Baseball player’s family told the Florida Times-Union.

The family made the announcement at a private mass in Freel’s memory after receiving a report from the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and Sports Legacy Institute confirming the diagnosis. The report was also presented to MLB at the league’s annual winter meetings.

Freel, who was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and became a fan favourite with the Cincinnati Reds, died in his Jacksonville home on Dec. 22, 2012 at age 36, leaving behind a wife and three daughters.

Freel’s mother told the Times-Union the confirmation of the illness provided the family with some closure.

“Oh yes [it’s helpful], especially for the girls,” Norma Vargas said of her son’s children. “We adults can understand a little better. It’s a closure for the girls who loved their dad so much and they knew how much their dad loved them. It could help them understand why he did what he did. Maybe not now, but one day they will.”

Freel’s death followed a string of suicides of former athletes who suffered concussions during their playing careers, leading to speculation over whether Freel’s past brain injuries had been a factor. Freel said in 2007 he had suffered “six or seven” concussions after an outfield collision left him with another one, and had possibly suffered others he could not remember.

“It’s probably nine or 10 I’ve had,” he said. “But nothing like this. I’d bounce back in a few days, miss four or five days, but never had the lingering effects like this. I had some dizziness and some headaches, but not like I’m having now. This is totally different.”

Former NFL star Junior Seau, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest in May of 2012, and NHL enforcer Derek Boogaard, who suffered a fatal accidental overdose of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone in 2011, are among the athletes diagnosed with CTE after their deaths.

Much of the attention on the long-term consequences of concussions has been focused on contact sports such as football and hockey. Freel is the first baseball player to be diagnosed with CTE, according to the Times-Union.

Carlo Allegri/National Post Ryan Freel said in 2007 that he had probably had nine or 10 concussions.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL.

The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court on behalf of former players Leonard Griffin, Chris Martin, Joe Phillips, Alexander Louis Cooper and Kevin Porter — all of whom played on defence — seeks more than $15,000 in actual and punitive damages. All five players have opted out of a multimillion-dollar settlement announced this summer that would compensate former players for their head injuries.

The Kansas City plaintiffs claim to be suffering from post-concussion syndrome and latent brain disease because of multiple concussions they sustained while playing for the Chiefs. They all claim also to be suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can only be definitively diagnosed by examining the brain after death.

Ken McClain, an Independence attorney, said the lawsuit is allowed in Missouri after a state workers’ compensation statute was amended in 2005 to exclude cases of occupational injury that occur over an extended time.

That exception more commonly applies in workplaces where smoking is allowed and workers suffer lung problems because of it. McClain also represented workers at a Jasper popcorn plant who were awarded millions of dollars in lawsuits claiming they got cancer because of a chemical in butter flavouring used at the plant.

The lawsuit says the Chiefs ignored decades of research indicating that concussions cause long-term brain damage, instead referring to the injuries as “getting your bell rung” or a “ding.” It accuses the team of lying to players in saying concussions are not serious injuries.

In recent years, a string of former NFL players and other athletes who suffered concussions have been diagnosed after their deaths with CTE, including Junior Seau and Ray Easterling, who both committed suicide.

In August, the NFL agreed to pay approximately $765 million to settle lawsuits filed by more than 4,500 former players who developed dementia or other concussion-related health problems they say were caused by playing football. The settlement, subject to approval by a federal judge Philadelphia, would apply to all past NFL players and spouses of those who are deceased.

Plaintiff’s attorneys say individual payouts would be capped at $5 million for men with Alzheimer’s disease; $4 million for those diagnosed after their deaths with a brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and $3 million for players with dementia.

About 19,000 retired players would be eligible to seek awards or medical testing, but current players are not part of the deal. The settlement does not include an admission from the NFL that it hid information from players about head injuries.

At the time, the settlement announcement appeared to remove a major legal and financial threat hanging over the NFL. But if too many former players opt out, the deal could fall apart.

TORONTO — Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Rick Vaive has asked that his name be removed from the concussion lawsuit against the NHL.

Vaive’s lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasn’t provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents.

“Mr. Vaive misunderstood the nature of the proceeding being brought, and believed this claim was similar to the worker’s compensation claim being advanced in California on behalf of several former NHL players,” Whiffen said in a statement Thursday.

“Rick has no interest in suing the National Hockey League and has advised that he will not be pursuing the claim in Washington. He has therefore instructed me to take the necessary steps required in order to remove his name from the lawsuit.”

Vaive was one of the 10 players named in the original concussion lawsuit, a list that has grown to more than 200, according to lawyers Steve Silverman and Mel Owens, who are at the forefront of the suit.

The other nine original players were Gary Leeman, Bradley Aitken, Darren Banks, Curt Bennett, Richard Dunn, Warren Holmes, Robert Manno, Blair James Stewart, and Morris Titanic. Former New York Islanders centre Bob Bourne announced he joined the suit shortly after it was filed.

More than 4,500 former NFL players sued that league in a similar case that resulted in a settlement worth US$765 million.

The original concussion lawsuit against the NHL included 10 former players, and that number has already grown.

More than 200 players have joined, according to lawyers Steve Silverman and Mel Owens, who are at the forefront of the suit.

Owens, an NFL linebacker-turned-disability lawyer said in a phone interview Wednesday that “hundreds” of ex-NHL players are going to become part of the suit, which was filed in U.S. federal court in Washington on Monday.

“These are 10 players, but there’s hundreds of guys that, they’re in the lawsuit,” said Owens, who works for NBO Law in Beverly Hills, Calif. “They just haven’t been named yet. They’re going to be there.”

Related

Sportsnet.ca was the first to report that more than 200 players joined the effort, which began with 10 players: Gary Leeman, Bradley Aitken, Darren Banks, Curt Bennett, Richard Dunn, Warren Holmes, Robert Manno, Blair James Stewart, Morris Titanic and Rick Vaive. Former New York Islanders centre Bob Bourne announced he joined the suit shortly after it was filed.

Leeman and Vaive in recent days have politely declined comment about their involvement, deferring to Silverman and Owens, who said he did not know how many players would wind up being a part of it.

Once the players find out that, ‘Oh, there may be hope for me. I might be able to get some help and some treatment to address my quality of life issues,’ I’m sure they’ll be in contact

“I don’t know how many living alumni there are in the NHL that have these significant problems,” Owens said. “I don’t know that. But like in the NFL, it just matured over time. Once the players find out that, ‘Oh, there may be hope for me. I might be able to get some help and some treatment to address my quality of life issues,’ I’m sure they’ll be in contact.”

More than 4,500 former NFL players sued that league in a case that Owens said has “parallels” to this one. That settlement was worth US$765-million.

Owens said there wasn’t any recruiting being done to get more players to join the cause. He sent tweets to several former players informing them of the case beginning Monday.

“All of our business that we’ve ever done has all been by word of mouth. The players are the ones that talk amongst themselves,” he said. “Once I have knowledge as a player, like you have knowledge and like everybody else has knowledge, the word spreads. Back in the ’60s and the ’70s and the ’80s the person with all the knowledge and the power were the owners. They controlled the message.”

In a statement released Monday evening, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly called the subject matter “very serious” and said the league intended to defend the case “vigorously.”